Door-latch.



C. J. NELSON.

DOOR LATCH.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.2h i9l3.

Patented July 6, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

C. J. NELSON.

DOOR LATCH. APPLICATION FILED AUG-21' 1913.

Patented July 6, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

rarnrrr orrrcn.

CHARLES J. NELSON, OF MADELIA, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO HERMANR. ANDERSON, 0F MADELIA, MINNESOTA.

DUDE-LATCH.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that l, Cl-mnLns J. NELSON, acitizen of the United States, residing at Madelia, in the county ofWatonwan and State of Minnesota, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Door-Latches, of which the following is a specification.

An object of the invention is to provide a door latch, particularlyadaptable for use on barn doors, and wherein a latch 18 provided whichcan be conveniently opened from the inside or outside.

The invention embodies, among other features, a door latch of simple anddurable construction and in which, when the latch 1s applied to a barndoor, the locking member will lie within the building or structure uponwhich the door is mounted so that the said locking member will beprotected from the inclemencies of the weather.

The invention still further embodies a door latch in which the lockingmember will engage the keeper to secure the door 1n a locked positionwhen a suflicient force 1s exerted on the door to swing the same intoclosed position, thus permitting of securing the door in a closedposition without any further exertion on the part of the operator exceptto impart to the door a swinging movement sufficient to carry thelocking element into engagement with the keeper.

In the further disclosure of the invention reference is to be had to theaccompanying drawings, constituting-a part of this specification, inwhich similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in allthe views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the latch; Fig. 2 is a rear elevation;Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 3-3 in Fig. 2;Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 44 in Fig. 3; Fig.5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of the front of the latch,showing the manner of securing the operating handles in locked position;and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the keeper.

Referring more particularly to the views, I disclose a-door 10 mountedto swing on a suitable door casing 11, a transverse opening 12 beingprovided in the door 10 and through which extends a shank 13 mounted toswing on the door at its medial portion and within the opening 12, oneend of the shank 13 projecting forwardly beyond the front face ofSpecification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 21, 1913.

the door and terminating in an outer handle 14, with the other end ofthe shankprojecting beyond the inner face of the door and havingconnected thereto an inner handle 15.

A hook-like locking element 16 is rigidly carried on the inner end ofthe shank 13 and is preferably secured thereto by a plurality oftransverse bolts 17 which, passing through the shank and the lockingelement, not only secure the locking element to the shank, but also passthrough the inner handle 15 to rigidly secure the same upon the innerend of the shank. The locking element 16 carries an eye 18 in which issecured one end of a contractile spring 19 having the other end thereofsecured to a suitable hook 20 carried on the inner face of the door 10.

A plate 21 is secured to the front face of the door 10 and includes avertically slotted stop member 22, having the slot thereof registeringwith the opening 12 in the door, the said shank 13 being adapted toloosely pass through the vertical slot of the stop member, as shown, sothat when the outer handle 14; is presseddownwardly, the downwardmovement of the said handle and shank will be limited by the stop member22 having a wall thereof adapted to be engaged by the shank, the upwardmovement of the handle and shank being also limited by the shankengaging the opposite wall of the stop member when the door is in alocked position.

A keeper 23 is secured to the inner face of the door casing 11 andincludes a plate 2 1 provided with slots 25 through which are passedsuitable-screws26 for supporting the keeper on the door casing, it beingreadily understood that the heads of the screws are larger than thewidth of the slots in the plate 24, thus permitting of adjusting thekeeper vertically on the door casing to compensate for any sagging ofthe door relatively to the door casing. As mentioned heretofore, thelocking element 16 is preferably of a hook-like nature and includes abeveled face 27. Now when the door is in an open position and it isdesired to close the same relatively to the door casing and secure thedoor in closed position, it is only necessary to impart a swingingmovement to the door sufficient to bring the locking element 16 intoengagement with the keeper 23. When this occurs the beveled face 27 ofthe locking element will engage one of a plurality of projections 28 ofthe keeper and ride over the said projections, whereupon the action ofthe spring 19 exerting a downward pullon'the locking element,

as will be readily understood by referring to the views.

A plurality of horizontally registering apertures are formed on the sidewalls of the side member '22 and lie beneath the normal horizontal planeof the shank 13. Now when it is desired to lock the shank in aninoperative position, the curved shank 31 of a padlock '32 is passedthrough the horizontally al-ining apertures and the shank locked to thebody of the padlock, thus causing the shank 81 of the padlock torestrict the movement of the shank 1'3 carrying the inner and outerhandles .and hold ing the shank 1'3 in an inoperative position so thatthe slight movement of the shank will be insullicient to disengage thelocking element from the keeper, thus retaining the door in a lockedposition and preventing thieves or burglars from opening the door andentering the building on which the door swings.

mm the toregoing description it will be apparent that my device is of asimple and durable construction and in which all of the parts except theouter "handle are protected from the inclemencies of the weather, thekeeper of the door casing and the locking element for engagement withthe keeper being arranged to lie within the building upon which the dooris mounted to swing.

In order to secure the door in an open position after the same has beenunlocked and swung open, a suitable securing member 33 is supported onthe casing 11 to be engaged by the handle ll as the door swings back-Wardly upon the casing, thus retaining and locking the door in an openposition.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

A door latch comprising a hollow member carried by the door andextending therethrough, a shank extending tln'ough the member andpivoted therein and having its inner end eXtending beyond the inner sideof the door, a handle carried by the inner end of the shank and lying toone side thereof, an angular shaped locking element located at the innerend of the shank and having one ol its sides detachably secured to theinner end of the shankat a point-opposite the point of connectionbetween the shank and the handle, means extending through the mentionedside of the locking element and through the shank and handle forsecuring the locking element and handle to the shank, the said lockingelement having its other side extending downwardly below the shank, akeeper mounted on the door frame and adapted to receive the downwardlyextending side of the locking element when the door is in closedposition, and a spring having one end secured to the under side of thefirst mentioned side of the locking element and having its opposite endextending downwardly and secured to the door, for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I allix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHAR-LES J. NELSON.

Witnesses:

GLnoYs hl'ILLER,

HinLnsHniM.

Gopies of thisnpatent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. O.

